Most mobile devices are configured to receive and operate removable Universal Integrated Circuit Cards (UICCs) that enable the mobile devices to access services provided by mobile network operators (MNOs). In particular, each UICC includes at least a microprocessor and a read-only memory (ROM), where the ROM is configured to store different applets and authentication data that the mobile device can utilize to register and interact with the MNOs. Typically, a UICC takes the form of a small removable card (e.g., a SIM card) that is configured to store a single MNO profile and be inserted into a UICC-receiving bay included in a mobile device. In more recent implementations, however, UICCs are being embedded directly into system boards of mobile devices and are configured to store multiple MNO profiles, referred to herein as electronic SIMs (eSIMs). For example, an embedded UICC (eUICC) can store one eSIM for a local MNO and another eSIM for an international MNO. Notably, these eUICCs provide several advantages over traditional, removable UICCs. For example, some eUICCs include a rewritable memory that can facilitate eSIM updates for accessing extended features provided by MNOs. The eUICCs also eliminate the necessity of including UICC-receiving bays within mobile devices. The implementation of eUICCs therefore not only increases the flexibility of mobile devices, but also simplifies their design and frees up space for other components.
Although eUICCs provide many benefits over traditional, removable UICCs, implementing eUICCs present new challenges with respect to how eSIM content is accessed by mobile devices. For example, MNOs share many of the same properties as one another, and, as a result, eSIMs can often include applications that share the same application identifier (AID). Consequently, a mobile device whose eUICC includes two or more eSIMs that share similarities may not be able to successfully select and access an application of a particular one of the two or more eSIMs. More specifically, existing protocols for accessing applications involve referencing only the AID, which is not sufficient for the mobile device to access an application of a particular eSIM because the AID alone does not uniquely identify the application of the particular eSIM that includes the application. Therefore, there exists a need for enabling a mobile device—specifically, a processor included in the mobile device—to access specific eSIM content, such as an application of a particular eSIM, in a multiple eSIM environment.